Arsene Wenger has praised the impact of Lukas Podolski following his return from injury during Arsenal's 3-1 win over West Ham United.

The German international came off the bench to score the third goal of the afternoon for the Gunners, and Wenger feels that he can play a vital role for the team.

"He has been out for four four months, he has not played one game," he told the club's official website.

"I try to get him slowly back to competitiveness and he has shown he can have a huge impact because he can score and make goals - he can give assists.

"But on the pitch we had Podolski and Walcott and Giroud and Ozil and Cazorla you know when you lose the ball you can be a bit vulnerable but we had to go for it."

Arsenal are currently top of the Premier League table.